Iron Horse Retired

Posted 9 March 2015

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Photo by A1C Dillian Bamman

The 71st Rescue Squadron at Moody AFB, Georgia, sent the Air Force's oldest C-130 to the 309th Aerospace Maintenance And Regeneration Group at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, for retirement on 3 March 2015. The aircraft, an HC-130P Combat King personnel recovery aircraft nicknamed Iron Horse, served for fifty-two years and recorded 27,533 flying hours. The aircraft (US Air Force serial number 62-1863) began its Air Force career as a C-130E assigned to the 374th Tactical Airlift Wing during Vietnam. Iron Horse first got its nickname when it was stationed at Davis-Monthan in 1994 as an EC-130E Airborne Command and Control Center, or ABCCC, aircraft in the 1990s. The aircraft was modified into an HC-130P in the 1990s. The aircraft’s final deployment came in 2009.

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